Persona 4 Golden Out Today: ATLUS’ 9 Favorite NPCs

Hello again, readers! Today marks the official launch of Persona 4 Golden for PS Vita. The team at ATLUS has been very hard at work preparing this title, chock-full of new content and maximized for the beautiful PS Vita hardware, and we’re super-excited to be able to bring this game to all of you.

While we don’t want to spoil anything, it’s really difficult to keep this level of enthusiasm up without sharing any of it with people who would like to listen. There’s been quite a bit of attention paid to the characters of Persona 4 Golden, and with that in mind we’ve asked some of the staff here at ATLUS about some of their favorite NPCs. We might even share some strategies and insights into the game!

Nich Maragos, Editor

“I’m fond of the twins who rope you into the telepathy experiments they perform. Helping them out with their trial and error over the course of the game is one of my favorite examples of how many small, quirky stories P4 has going on in the background throughout your year in Inaba.”

Mai Namba, Translator

“Kanji’s mother was my most favorite NPC in the game because not only is she accepting of Kanji’s hobbies, she sees nothing wrong with them and even encourages him to pursue said hobbies. How could you not like a mom like that!?”

Christian La Monte, QA Tester

“At first glance Ai Ebihara seems to be everything that not only the player, but the rest of Yasogami, should despise. She is actively vapid, materialistic, and heartless. Until, like all others, she becomes aware of her true self. Ai is afraid of showing emotion or weakness, and this manifests itself as an Ice Queen exterior. If the protagonist can see beyond this, he can unlock the doors that she has closed her entire life. It’s a great feeling when the greeting she gives is no longer a disdainful ‘Of course you’d want to hang out with me’ and instead becomes ‘I’m so happy to see you,’ after her fury cools. Although she treated a lot of my party members disdainfully, I think she eventually gets over that.”

Mike Meeker, Editor

“I really like the ailurophobe’s journey of discovery. But, out of anybody, I think Morooka gets a bad rap. I get the feeling that he used to be an optimistic and hopeful teacher, but years of disappointment in the educational system have worn him down into the cynical, hateful shell you see in the game. There are occasional glimpses showing that he actually cares about his students’ well-being and is more than just an angry guy doing a job he hates.”

Scott Williams, QA Lead

“Yumi Ozawa is one of the more focused, intense, and talented characters in the game. A little melodramatic and manic at times, she wears her heart on her sleeve and is one of the most cheerful people the protagonist will encounter, when the mood strikes her. She also has my favorite line in the game.”

Elwood Cruz, QA Tester

“Ms. Kashiwagi was probably one of my favorites (especially when teamed with Hanako). I thought she was hilarious right from the start. Plus she’s always ready for a bikini competition. I have a soft spot for Hisano, though. I really enjoyed her S. Link. Her perspective was an interesting change of pace from all the other characters.”

Clayton Chan, Editor

“It was really tough to localize all of Wallet Misplacer’s poetry so it fit into the space constraints, so she’ll always have a special place in my heart, along with Spacy Girl and Errand Boy. (Atlus needs to continue their stories as grown up protagonists in a game at some point.) If I have to pick a favorite, I gotta go with Funky Student. I like characters that are unusual blends of archetypes, and the Venn diagram intersection that Funky Student lives in is quite small. I learned this firsthand by growing up as a kid who was also really into hip-hop and riddles. He’s kind of a bizarro, more outgoing version of 6th grade me, so Funky Student’s my bro fo’ sho! (Did you spot him in P4A?)”

Rob Stone, QA Lead

“The fox at the shrine. *yip* That SP recovery in the TV World…”

Allie Doyon, QA Tester

“This is a nearly impossible decision, as every character big and small seems to charm me in one way or another, but I think I’ve made my choice. Melting hearts far and wide with the purest love for her local department store, it’s The Inspiring 6-Year-Old Role Model, Nanako! She’s always so kind and sweet, even when she’s home alone and has to do all the chores and cooking by herself. What a trooper! Hang in there, Nanako!”

There you have it! Hopefully you’ll all get the chance to find a character that you’ll grow fond of when you’re playing the game. Who’s your favorite NPC? Leave us a comment! Don’t forget, P4G is out today, so run out and grab your copy. And those of you who pre-ordered we hope you enjoy your DezaEgg skin (it really does look quite awesome with the P4G wallpaper).

As another ‘thank you’ to the fans, we are also excited to offer a chance for 20 lucky PS Vita owners in North America to win a copy of the game — keep your eye on @PlayStation on Twitter today for more details!

Do you guys know what happened with the pre-order bonus skins? GameStop claims that P4G doesn’t even have a pre-order bonus listed in their systems, meaning I don’t have the Vita skin you guys kept advertising as a bonus.

With regards to the preorder bonus, it’s handled by the store companies themselves. We have the games and skins sent to their central distribution centers, and then they send them to the individual stores. I hate to play the blame game (the Name Game is much more fun), but if there was a mishandling of participating retailers not getting the preorder bonus, it’s on their side.

I was one of the first ones to comment back when this was announced. I was very disappointed that my Best Buy here in Canada didn’t have the Pre-order skins that you announced. I had pre-ordered it expecting them to get them, but now thinking I might just buy it on the PSN instead.

This is my most anticipated game of the year, on any system. I was only vaguely aware of the Persona series until this Summer. I picked up a copy of P3P in a garage sale, just because it was a couple of bucks. It sat around unloved for a few months until I finally put it into my PSP, and I became absolutely obsessed with the thing to the point that I bought a digital copy just so that I could continue playing on my Vita.
I’ve heard P4 is even better which, if that’s the case, means it’ll probably end up in my top five games of all time. Cannot wait to pick this up later today.

Need lunch to come so I can pick up my copy. Also confused why there isn’t a P4G Vita bundle. I know a lot more people interested in buying a Vita for this game than for Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed. Just sayin’! Get on it!

Btw, Does Golden version of Persona 4 acknowledge anything from Persona 4 Arena? I know Arena takes place after, but since new scenes were added i was hoping they would try to tie them together somehow, since the story mode in Arena was pretty poor.

Well, if you were bored by the RPG elements in RPGs, perhaps RPGs aren’t quite the games for you. In other respects, P4G is like P3, but moreso. If you were put off by the mechanics of the previous games, I’m not sure you’d come to like them in the sequel. Sorry, I’m supposed to try to give the hard sell to everybody, but there it is.

Two questions:
Are you considering localizing Persona 2: Eternal Punishment for the PSP? My life quality would improve greatly if you did!

Would you please consider pursuing the license for Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke for the PSP? SCEA hates the PSP and wants it dead so you guys are our only hope. That game also just screams ATLUS to me!

Atlus great job remastering P4G! I’ve been holding out on buying P4 Arena so I wouldn’t get any spoilers before getting to play P4G, any idea if you will port Arena for the Vita? Considering the success of Arena and the fact Blazblue has been ported to the Vita already I hope you guys really consider it.

@20 if you were turned off by the combat system in Persona 3, i honestly don’t see you being able to enjoy Persona 4’s either. Its still the same dull turn based battles.

But for me, the combat is not where the appeal is. Its the interesting story and unique social link aspects that make this series shine among an increasingly irrelevant genre. It also has some great characters, though there are some annoying anime tropes every now and then as well.

If the combat is all you care about, i’d honestly stay away from all of the Shin Megami games to be honest. I only like the Persona series and its because of everything other than the combat.

I purchased a Vita a few months ago purely to play Persona 4 on it. Now it’s arrived and it will be my first PS Vita day one download and I’m so irritated by the lack of urgency shown by Sony to update the PSN store and allow us access to purchase it. Why so many gates to simply pay money for a game released today? When can we expect the store to be updated?

@Mike Meeker, Thank you! For some reason i have been put off by the more modern RPGs, nothing on Atlus’ fault or anything of the sort. The last RPG i can sit down and spend time with is FFX, unless you consider Demon Souls and Dark Souls RPGs.

Mike, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE relay to Atlus to publish another phenomenal game in the Souls series!

Also, PLEASE discount the Dark Souls DLC as Dark Souls DLC costs almost as much as the100+ hour game itself!

Thank you again for responding in such a positive, and professional manner. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing whatever Atlus releases in the future!

I got nothing for pre-ordering P4G. Gamestop said I didn’t pre-order earlier even though I did it on August. All I have is a game, what a disappointing day it was today. At least this is my first Vita game the rest I have are the PSP Persona games.

Mike, thanks for the post! Gotta keep this community up-to-date on such a beloved release! I skimped over some reviews & the Persona series is simply adored by the press along w/ tons of gamers around the globe! As my 1st Persona title, I am ready to download it tonight!

@ 34, Ruizuk- your receipt should show that you had placed a small sum ($10) or paid for the item in full (if you did) in August. Additionally, Gamestop keeps records on pre-orders in their systems- go back & demand that you did NOT receive the bonus items. If they won’t, ask for for some credit in return for the “incomplete” sale.

I am glad you brought this over Atlus USA, but sadly, I am supporting JP Atlus on this title. I am too big a fan of Yui Horie and Rie Kugimiya to support having their voices cut from the NA release. Though in the end, at least one branch of Atlus is getting my money I suppose.

Any idea what’s going on with Amazon? Did they not get their shipment of the limited edition on time? I had the Solid Gold pre-ordered with them but got an email this morning they they won’t ship till Dec 19 but they already authorized payment for it. I’m not the only one who got the message too. Someone on the Atlus forums had this problem too.